Water damage refers to the losses incurred by a person which are caused by water. It can be as small as a water spot that comes from leaks in your faucet or water pipes or it can be caused by flash floods which would be catastrophic and devastating. Whatever the cause might be, water damage left unattended or unsolved might be detrimental to a person’s health and can cause deterioration and damage to property.
In such cases, your books and important documents might get damaged because it is made up of paper which is very fragile and can absorb water quickly. Paper is very sensitive that it can even get damaged even without direct exposure to water. A paper damaged by water might begin to distort, its writings will possibly fade and the pages might stick together. Paper damage caused by water can manifest itself in non-physical ways. In order to check and gauge the level of damage, lightly touch your documents. If majority of its parts are wet or moist, it is a definite sign of water damage. Your documents and books can even be damaged without direct contact with the soured of water, because increased exposure to humidity can also damage it as well.
In water damage, prompt action is needed in order to salvage your belongings. If your documents are damaged and the response lag time is very long, you might need to entail the services of an expert in order to restore your documents to its previous state. This is a very tedious and expensive process. So when water damage happens, keep in mind that time is of the essence if you want to do it yourself and at your home’s convenience. Read along and learn the different ways of drying wet books and documents easily and effectively.
Cleaning your wet books and documents
- If your documents are damaged by clean water
Clean water is not dangerous and can be from sink overflows or water pipe leaks. If you have documents damaged by clean water, remove the books from the water with care; remember that since these are damaged with water, these documents can be very fragile. Refrain from opening and closing the books to minimize the damage. Books which are bound by parchment, leather and vellum have the tendency to disfigure and deteriorate faster so you might want to save those books first.
- If your documents are damaged by contaminated or dirty water
Contaminated water is also known as dirt water, sources of which can be sea water and water from the sewage. This type of water can be a breeding ground for microorganisms and bacteria which can pose serious threats to a person’s health. For your documents damaged by contaminated water, it might be a bit trickier to solve compared to documents which are damaged by clean water. The first step is to gently remove the documents from the water. If you have disposable plastic gloves, then use it to avoid any form of contamination and to minimize direct contact with the dirty water. After this, you must rinse the wet books in cold, running water. If there are dirt and mud in the documents, gently use a sponge to spray these away. Do not utilize the sponge to remove the debris directly, because it will bring more damage.
Drying your wet books and documents
The next step to salvage your water damaged documents is to dry them and keep it away from any water source that might contribute to the damage. Drying your books and documents will also prevent the occurrence of molds, which can be very harmful to people with respiratory problems. Remember that molds and other bacteria only need 24 to 48 hours to cultivate, so fast response is needed to counter this potential problem.
Of course, different drying and salvaging methods need to be applied in different cases. In applying the right drying method, you need to consider some things before choosing the applicable one. These would include: assessing the type of document which has been damaged, determining the type of water which damaged the document and the importance and value of the document.
You must also be able to evaluate and categorize the items in terms of its priority levels. As an example, you might want to put high priority for documents which are high in value and irreplaceable like birth certificates, marriage licenses, property titles and the like. You can place second priority on important books and pictures and lastly, on other replaceable books and items.
The common method of drying is to let the wet items dry naturally or by air drying. You can also use a dehumidifier as another drying method. This equipment will surely increase the drying speed and lessen the time needed for your documents to dry. The air drying method can be used for books which have strong binding. Open the book gently and find the driest edge and put the weight there. Make sure that you turn the book upside-down every few hours to enable it to dry evenly. You can also use fans to make the drying process faster.
In cases of water damage, freezing your wet books and documents is another way of saving it. Freezing can help stop the ink from spreading which would help restore the document better, making it readable even after the drying process. This method can be used when you need the document to be salvaged and restored at the fastest time possible. To do this the proper way, seal your documents or books in a zip lock bag and put it in the freezer. It will be better to use a frost-free freezer since it is equipped with a fan which can make the drying process faster. The process of freezing will stop the water damage from increasing and prevent the deterioration of your documents.
- Using Absorbent Materials
This is a method which can be utilized after you’ve used other drying methods like air drying or freezing. You can also opt to use this method if the document in question is in an unstable and fragile condition. To do this, insert a white absorbent paper for every 10-15 pages of the damaged book. Do not add too many absorbent papers at once because it can damage the book’s binding. If the book is fully wet, you can do the interleaving by sections. Wait for an hour, and then replace the absorbent paper with a new absorbent paper. You need to place the book with the absorbent papers in a flat surface to minimize deformation. As a tip, glossy paper is hard to separate when wet, so be careful in separating them to minimize the damage.
- Making Use of Pressure to Dry your Water Damaged Documents
As a last step, you can apply pressure to your dried documents and books. If the document is still not dry, then do not apply pressure to it because it will damage it even more. It might cause the pages to stick together which will make it harder to separate and dry. You can employ this technique to books which are no longer wet, but are still cool to touch. To do this method properly, close the book and put it in a solid flat surface, then apply weight to it slowly. Make sure that you are not damaging the spine or the book binding when you are pressing weight into it.
In drying your water damaged books and documents, keep in mind that the original quality of the book will not be fully restored. The dried books will be more or less 20% thicker due to the permanent swelling of the fibers.
Minimizing the musty odor from water damaged documents
After the drying process, you might notice that the documents and books will be restored but it gives off a musty odor. In order to minimize this, you can place your water damaged books in a dry place for a few days. If this option fails, you can put your damaged documents in an open box and place an open box of baking soda. The baking soda will absorb the odor and remove the mustiness. Make sure that the baking soda is not in direct contact with the books. Also, watch out for the growth of molds since you will be keeping the books in a box for quite some time.
Utilizing the help of drying or restoration professionals
If you have exercised every method and technique possible in order to dry out your books and documents and still have not reached your end goal, then maybe it is time to seek the help of professional drying professionals. These restoration professionals have special equipment and techniques for drying out specific documents and books. Most of the restoration companies would offer the following: vacuum freeze drying, cryogenic freeze drying specifically used for books bound by leather and vellum, wet blueprint drying services and many more. These restoration companies can also help you rebind your books.
So the next time that your important documents or favorite books will be damaged by water, do not panic. Just remember all the tips mentioned above, use it and you will be able to successfully restore your damaged documents in no time at all.
